Anatman and Atman

I have been preparing a little treatise on an introduction to “our actuality” – the fact of our reality (which itself is made of parts including our self or identity, what we experience, consciousness, deeper being) as a projected part of our Whole Being, projected through the brain and spinal cord (or CNS). “Orientation”, of our projected actuality, in space and with our Whole, establishes our representational reality as part of our Whole, Who in turn is a part of Reality (absolute) or the One-and-only-Whole (see elsewhere in this blog). For this Noam Chomsky’s linguistics and history of science and philosophy, as well as various descriptions and thoughts by others on emergent phenomena has been particular considerations for the last month or so.

I was noticing a comment on Daniel Everett’s work (linguist who lived and worked with some South American natives, initially as a missionary and subsequently converted from Christianity), which questions the recent views of language as an innate and universal human property (generative grammar originated by Chomsky). In contrast Everett considers us moulded by culture (and language) and, as Aristotle described, the mind as a blank slate rather than preset. What really took my attention, however, is the Buddhist and Hindu concept of “anatman” that Everett considered most compatible with the notion of the human self.

I take a sidestep from my recent activities and comment here on this and other Sanskrit terms with Orientation and reference to our representational reality (or indirect realism) within which we, as self or identity, identify directly with what we experience of perception and thinking, our sense and notion, as if they are real (naive or direct realism).

Atman and Brahman are Sanskrit terms familiar to many in our cosmopolitan world, even if they are not Hindu. Those that practice Yoga or meditation may have come across the terms in studying some of the philosophy behind the practices. That is how I first learned of the terms in the following phrase : “Atman and Brahman are one”.

Atman is translated Self or True Self, and Brahman God. I have come to appreciate the terms and phrase in this way : Atman is the Whole Self Who is of Reality. Brahman is Reality (absolute) or the One-and-only-Whole. Atman, as part of Reality, displaces Reality so that there is no Reality but rest of Reality; Reality is transcendent of Atman but is immanent in (or permeates) Atman, for Atman being part of Reality. And in being part, Atman carries the essence of both His or Her Self and Brahman as the one spirit at His or Her core (Atman’s); the Atman and Brahman are one in spirit.

Anatman is translated “non-self”. I consider it the self or identity within our representational reality, which is a part projected through the Central Nervous System of our Whole. Our Whole Self is part-less and transcendent of our part as any whole is of their parts. This is because a part displaces the whole to leave the rest of whole, as indicated in the diagram.

In Hindu tradition Atman is similarly understood to be formless and part-less (ie. whole), whose true nature cannot be perceived. It is said that to comprehend the difference between Anatman and Atman, between our projected part and our Whole, is to become liberated.

There is the famous practice of the self talk “Neti, neti, neti” or “not this, not this, not this“. The idea of negating Anatman, itself being a negation or non-self (suffix an-), is to realise the supposedly permanent and unchanging Atman.

My recent approach repeats this negation but then refer indirectly to our transcendent Whole thus :
“Not this, not that, not us
Not that, not it, not me.
Everything is a part,
of my part-less Whole Being.”

Of Nothing we exist

Of Nothing we exist –
that Nothing is our Whole
absence in our part,
our part-less Whole.

Of Life we exist –
emergent of time
cosmos and Earth,
transcendent of our part.

Trust, be grateful –
He or She immanent in our part
our business, monies, questions and purposes,
in our being part.

Not this, not that, not us, as self or identity –
our everything is a part
of our part-less Whole Being,
next to other Wholes of Reality.

Inside a paper bag

A guided orientation – aspects of our reality are orientated in space, in their “actuality”.

It’s like being in a brown paper bag for us, as self or identity, within our reality of conscious experience and self witnessed*.

as captured from above

The crinkled surface to our front is what we predominantly experience as vision. We are in a fold pushed into the paper bag from its left.

There is no boundary to our right where empty space comes in, nor to the vacuous displacement behind that is the witness. The conscious is above us and our deeper sense of being extends below both again with no boundary. These aspects or regions seem to extend indeterminably for us, but exist within the paper bag that is our reality. What is determinable is our front facing self in the fold from the left, and what we experience to the front of the bag.

Within our paper bag we cannot see or experience the whole bag or the whole self of whom our reality (our paper bag) is a part, much like not seeing the forest from the trees. However, we can be a part in our actuality* and be in relation with our whole as part, just as in being a part of a tree that part is a part of the forest.

In our actuality within our reality, a part of our whole being who in turn is a part of absolute Reality or the one and only whole.

 

*
Our reality is conscious experience and self witnessed.

Actuality is our existence in fact as a projected part, projected by our whole being through the CNS (Central Nervous System).

The witness is the displaced part to the manifestant parts of our reality that include the self and what is experienced. We are aware of what the witness witnesses, which includes the self by which we can be self aware. It occupies the vacuous space behind what we experience (front) and the experiencing self (back).

Our reality and Reality

I hope to establish these two distinctions, between Reality (absolute) and our reality (of conscious experience and self), and between our self (part of our reality) and our whole self (of Reality). A process is then alluded to towards the end of this article, of our integration with our whole self and with Reality through our whole, with our part to play in it. More of this process will be presented elsewhere, but here discussed are the pivotal issues involved in approaching the truth of our being a part, and referring to our whole being who is of Reality.

1 The concept of “projection”

It is proposed here that our reality is “projected” or placed in space, through the Central Nervous System (CNS), by our whole. The CNS, which includes the brain and spinal cord, is an integral part of our whole being. We will look at how our reality of conscious experience and self should be regarded as a part, of our whole being and whole self projected through the CNS.

Let’s start with vision as an example of projection.

Light bouncing off real things in the real world focuses upside down inside at the back of the eyes, and stimulates the receptors there at the retina (cones and rods), which converts the focused images into nerve impulses. These travel through the optic nerves and reach the brain where our vision is created and placed, in space for us to experience.

In similar ways information, of certain aspects of the real world that sense organs of the body are specifically sensitive to (eyes for light, ears for sound, sensors on the skin for touch etc.) is put together in the CNS (by our whole) to form the “outside world part” of our reality. It is the world we may experience called the phenomenal world, a useful and “powerful” ¹ indication of the real world. With it is a “functional” and effective perspective, of our sense of being in the world – we jump onto a spot, point and touch, front up and throw. We are allowed this sense in our reality where, as one’s self or identity, we seemingly do things when, all the while, it is our whole who does things, in the real world or Reality, including those things we think we do in our world or our reality. (Note 1 – phenomenal world made from “aspects of Reality”)

A capital R is used to indicate absolute Reality, and to distinguish it from “our reality”, of conscious experience and self. Our reality is a projected part of our whole being, who is in and of Reality.

2 The self is a problem

Neuroscience seems to suggest that “what we experience” occurs in the brain. It has become a part of our modern understanding and culture (movies such as the Matrix). This diagram shows what was already being considered about our reality and the brain in the mid-1600’s, when it was used by Descartes in his work (father of modern philosophy – “I think, there for I am”). It illustrates a part of the brain, registering vision and initiating pointing.

But what about our self, one’s self, yours and mine? Are we a product of the brain? With our ability to consider and question things, our sense of independence and will, and separation from what we experience, how can we be made by, or secondary to an organ? What about our deeper being, life, and consciousness? Where do they come from or fit, in the scheme of things?

I preempt this point, that there is no brain without a whole being, whole self or the whole body. We, as self or identity, together with and in our reality, are a part of our individual whole, “projected” through and not by the CNS.

3 The subjective aspects of our reality

The self is difficult to determine. Even as words, sentences that refer to themselves or “self-reference” create in many cases difficulties in our minds, recognised in philosophy as a self-referential paradox. Think about “This statement is false” – sort of doesn’t go anywhere but leaves one suspended or waiting for some conclusion or resolution, as if that is expected in a sentence. It is a commonly used example, where the contradiction in the statement itself, intensifies the self-referencing and its paradox.

More so however, the question “What is the self?” (one’s self itself), brings self-referencing directly back to us, towards one’s actual self. It is our “self-referencing conundrum” (https://realityhc. wordpress.com/?s= self+referencing+conundrum), which comes of us being in, the “apparatus for having an experience”.

In this make-up for having an experience, trying to directly experience one’s self is, like a camera trying to take a picture of itself (with “exposures” of itself). We cannot bend the “apparatus for having an experience” to experience our “having an experience” self.

To avoid extinguishing our “self” in self-referencing, trying to experience the experiencing self, we can firmly grasp and distinguish the objective and subjective ends of our “having an experience” reality – and try not to chase the other end of the “apparatus”, like a dog its tail.

The self tells the tale and hears, the dog wagging the tail is tickled by the tale wagging. Within our reality (of conscious experience and self) are parts that include inside and outside, being and doing, subject and object.

The objective is the “easy” aspect – to explain and understand as produced by the brain (Chalmers 1986, Australian philosopher). Vision from eyes and all experiences according to the whole self’s sense organs (projected for us to experience, by our whole through the CNS) belong to this group, as the object of our “having an experience”. But also included are functions of the mind, including determining, filing, retrieving and analysing, that can be broken down to linear mechanical or computational processes, “easily” attributed to the brain that is computer-like, at least in part.

The subjective aspects on the other hand, include the self, consciousness, the experience itself (different from what is experienced, which is the object of experience), deeper being, and the witness. Their existence and nature are “hard” to accept as produced by the brain or anything else, with our independence, will etc., as questioned previously (bottom p1). In contrast to the “easy” and objective, they are termed the “hard aspects of conscious experience” by Chalmers.

He suggests we consider the subjective aspects of our reality as fundamental (irreducible), to help us find a new way of considering them. This new approach to our subjective part must be different from the linear reductive way we “normally” try to grasp and approach things in our minds we consider “direct”, which keeps our enquiry and discovery to objective computer-like processes in our reality while never addressing the subjective.

The development of AI (artificial intelligence) has moved the boundary between the subjective and objective in our reality to such a degree, objectifying so much of our mental functioning that are computer-like, though previously thought of as cognitive, creative, connective, clever and human. This encroachment creates a new impetus and interest to the age old question, “What is it to be human?” (Note 2 – AI and our humanity).

4 The self as a part of a construct

Our experience is determined certain ahead of our line-up through the “apparatus for having an experience”, but beyond this focus of certainty what we determine pixelates into uncertainty and unknowing. At the other end, our seat in the “apparatus for having an experience” is the “self referencing conundrum” on which we cannot experience or determine our self.

We do need a different approach for our conscious self, otherwise we remain concealed behind the lined-up with what we experience on the “apparatus”. However, I do not think Chalmers’ suggestion of categorising our subjective aspects as fundamental is necessary.

We already have phenomenology (branch of philosophy about our reality of conscious experience as phenomena) that offers us the “thing-in-itself”, the state before we judge (phenomenological term) or determine “what” the thing of experience in our reality is. Phenomenology speaks of the conscious being conscious of (recognition of the nature of the conscious, and calls it intentionality), and a self, dasein which translates from German to “being there” or “presence”, and refers to our existence within our reality.

While we can establish that the subjective aspects of our reality are indeterminable and cannot be directly experienced, phenomenology addresses this “impasse” (phenomenological term) or conundrum (self-referencing) by stalling the “apparatus for having an experience” from determining or judging, and delivers for our recognition the self, experience and the conscious in-them-selves. To these I would add the witness, by which we are aware of those aspects delivered in the phenomenological approach.

The witness is the most hidden part of our subjective aspect. It may best be though of and sensed as the displaced part to the manifestant (phenomenalogical) parts of our reality. We may be aware of what the witness witnesses. While we are engaged with what we are experiencing the world is there as witnessed in the periphery and background to our focus, but is also there for us to open and pay attention to. This sense of the world being there whether we notice it or not adds strongly to the sense of our being in a real world. That we can be self aware and self conscious points to the displacement of the witness (by which we are aware) and the conscious (conscious of) from the self, the conscious placed above and the witness generally behind.

With the inclusion of the witness, by which we are aware of our reality as phenomenon, I proclaim “constructology” the study of our reality as a construct of parts that are projected by a whole being.

Our reality is “constructed” or made-up of parts necessary for experience, including the self, conscious, witness, deeper being, experience and what we experience including others and the world. With our identification with what we determine, and our struggles with and letting go of them, our sense of life occurs within our construct or reality.

We can understand our reality as a projected part of our individual whole self (next to other wholes in Reality). As parts to our construct that is a part of our whole, both our self and what we experience, the subjective and objective, are parts of our whole. Not a product of the CNS, but of our whole – projected through, and not by, the CNS.

5 In our “actuality” being there, being what we are

Micky Mouse in his cartoon can think he is superior to if not independent of the cinema projector or the cartoonist. We too can hold to our assertions within our reality “I’m it” and “that’s the wot” (world out there) and be defensive about being a part or projected. However, we can also recognise being a part as one of many me-s or self-s that are different in different states, roles and situations. And, there are other parts to our reality apart from our self, such as what we experience or deeper being that as already mentioned.

As space, time and gravity, was reduced to a more fundamental space-time by Einstein, all aspects of our reality are here reduced to their fundamental, of being projected parts of their whole. However, it is not something in Reality that is proclaimed fundamental here. We are talking about our “own” reality which is a part of our whole self who is of Reality; we are more fundamental in approaching our part in our whole, our actuality as projection, which draws in other components of our constructed reality for also being projected.

Fundamental in becoming a part because we approach our truth as part of our whole (what we are), we approach Reality through our whole, and we become integrated with other parts that construct our reality through being projected parts of our whole. The world we experience is a lesser version of Reality according to our whole and his or her sense organs, with which we are reductionist as we determine what we experience. Even as we use machines for what we cannot sense, they merely augment our reality in some particular aspect of Reality those machines are made for (eg. telescopes for focusing light and their images from afar, and sensors for birds or for neutrinos that fly past or through). We can be reductional with our experience because it is assembled in the first place from indications of aspects of Reality the whole self is sensitive to. We de-assembled or reduced it to the indications of those aspects as we focus separately to vision, sound, touch or any other sense that is our experience.

We are closer to Reality itself when we approach the actuality of our part in our projected reality. Whereas if we separate the subjective by defining it as fundamental, we are displaced on a tangent away from our other parts and from our part in our whole and Reality, but still within our reality. We either float uncertainly or determine our selves as concept in context, as we do with fields for sub-atomic particles outside of their atom.

Projection is what we are, as is our reality. It is our “actuality” our existence in fact, that is more than an opinion about some thing. In “actuality”, parts of our reality take-up certain shapes in particular places, as projected by our whole (through the CNS). Vision is to the front of our having an experience, the conscious above, deeper being below, witness behind, and the self in between. (Notes 3 – “actuality”)

In our actuality as a part we can, should, should be able to, want to and must, regard our whole.

However, as discussed, we cannot be direct in approaching our subjective self (“self-referencing conundrum” and “apparatus for having an experience”). Nor can we refer to our whole in the usual direct manner we can with what we experience.

Where is the whole? Or self? Not in our reality to experience.

The diagram indicates how a part displaces its whole and is surrounded by the “rest of whole”. Our whole is transcendent of or beyond our part while encompassing of it. In many ways there may be more to our reality but the “rest of whole” floats our all.

The following points summarise how we are usually isolated from our whole :
1) transcendence : Our whole is displaced from our part, transcendent of or beyond it. He or she can never be in our reality as a whole because our reality is a part.
2) projection : In being projected by our whole through his or her CNS our reality is displaced from our whole in substance and dimension.
3) differentiation : Our reality separates into various different components, including the conscious, self, what is experienced, deeper being, and witness, and the projected space they are in.
4) identification : Finally, we are isolated from our whole in being identified within our reality, in our self and with what we experience. Other components are bound by this identification, the conscious being conscious of it, the witness by which we are aware of it, and our deeper being that waits for a reckoning beyond identification.

6 Reality, our whole and for our becoming a part

Reality is Entirety, that is more than the sum of all wholes and parts; “the one and only whole”, which may also be considered All-Creation-God.

There must be in Reality something like a force (mystery) and/or presence (profundity) that keeps a whole whole, whether it be a molecule, stone, an apple, planet, galaxy, or the universe. To a part our transcendent whole and “the one and only whole” (Reality) will always be a profound double mystery, of their very whole-ness and one’s part in those wholes. We can look at other wholes but what we see within our reality are indications of things in Reality according to our whole self, based on his or her sense organs (each sensitive to some aspect of Reality such as light, sound, touch etc.)

Our whole is a godly being, wondrous profound mystic cosmic yet mundane, for having our reality as a part, for being more than the sum of his or her parts as the whole, for being of Reality as one of countless wholes, and transcendent of our part. As self or identity, we become a part of Reality in becoming a part of our whole because our whole is of Reality, immanent of or permeated by it (Reality) as a part of our whole.

To be in relation with our whole, we must first understand our “normal” tendency in our reality to identify in our self and with what we experience, as has been outlined. Then, as self or identity, we can approach our “actuality”, our existence in fact as projection in space, “there”. It is as if we exist pressed between several blowup cushions of various shapes and sizes that we contact in incomplete surfaces and spaces. Around these aspects that construct our reality we can introduce a spatial reference or “orientation” (orientation in space) to capture more ofthe actuality of our reality.

Our reality is made empirical by actuality or its projection in space, measurable and verifiable but this is not just for objective scientific analysis. It takes a particular sense to appreciate our actuality, which involves our being a part. We can step back into the substance of our reality that is projection, to be of it to appreciate it, our actuality that we are.

Next, in our actuality, refer to the transcendent whole. For this we can use our sense of his or her mid-line or core (geometric reference for the whole body) in our reality, as a reference for who “must” be there, in Reality. There is nothing solid or whole in our reality, and while only an incomplete and floating sense of core, it works for us to be in relation with our whole. Other ways to refer to our whole include : the whole is touched by the rest of creation; is present in the present; is alive; must be there (for us to be); is transcendent of us; is in and of Reality; is Nothingness, an absence in our projected reality.

A concept of “winching” is mentioned here. Effort to pull on the winch is necessary to promote our whole and part, and advance against our isolating bind, of our identification in our self and with what we experience. Then return the winch to allow for our whole, beyond our effort and reckoning that can only be limited as part (Notes 4 – winching; promoting our part and whole, then referring to our whole).

7 Orientation – an approach to the human condition and Reality

I want to present more comprehensively and precisely what was only alluded to above, of how to approach our actuality and refer to our whole, to be in relation with our whole. The approach is “Orientation” – our projected reality in space and with our whole self. Introduced is our transcendent whole as the universal basis for our existence and processes; universal because everyone as self or identity has a whole they belong to as a part and who they can be in relation with as a part. The process is integration for both our projected part and our whole (more whole with integrating rather than isolated parts), underpinned by the immanence of Reality in all our parts, through our whole being of Reality.

“Orientation” of our projected reality in space and with our whole being leads to changes in what we are as self or identity, the whole we are a part of, and presumably Reality that our whole is in and is of. However, we should understand that it is not for us in our reality to be the whole or reach Reality. Rather, we are to be in relation, as a part in our actuality, with our whole who is of Reality.

The essence, substance and fields of all human endeavours and practices may said to be delivered, with the involvement of our all encompassing whole self, and Orientation may be applied to further those activities and processes.

Through our relation with our whole, our deepest sentiments can flow. Gratitude, reverence and the giving of thanks, our sacrifice or subjugation, wonderment and enquiry (questioning), despair and the reaching for help, struggle with vengeance or against bitter betrayal, the gathering of power, its purpose, and release. Be free and independent as part. Supported and opened, broken and born, lead and realised, strong and uncertain, in our whole’s encompassing embrace that reaches and infuses our reality’s breadths, depths, and extent.

Lastly, Orientation is reduced to three statements you can make within your reality. Be intuitive about when and which statement to use. They indirectly refer to your truth as a part and to your transcendent whole, who must be there in Reality :

“Everything is a part; in everything is our whole”
Message : Everything of our self and what is experienced or sensed, is a projected part of our whole being. In every part is the presence or essence of their whole.
“Everything is material for referring to one’s whole”
Instruction : For one’s everything being a part of one’s whole. Our reality includes positive and negative states, and all their possible purposes and processes.
“Look to a relation with one’s whole”
Goal : In all that we may become, achieve or get to, because our reality includes all that we may be and experience, and is a part of our whole.

Notes 1 The phenomenal world is also defined as the world that can “be perceived by the senses”. But there are no sense organs for us as self or identity. Consider yout own situation. There is nothing of substance, no eyes, ears or brain, in our projected reality. We may think we see or hear in seeing and hearing vision and sound. However, the only thing that we can say we do, as self or identity in our projected reality, is experience, or have experience.
The whole self has the eyes and ears. Information of “aspects of the Reality”, those for which the whole self has sense organs for, is put together in the CNS by our whole, to give us as self or identity the world we experience and what we experience, in our reality.
Our phenomenal world is not the real world of Reality. Nor can we experience the real world directly. Rather, the world we experience indicates “aspects” of the real world, dependent on what sense organs our whole happens to have. Reality itself is more than the sum of all aspects.
The “power” of scientific theories to predict and work or apply lies originally in our reality’s power to indicate the world. We can understand from aspects, apply our understanding, and experience its outcome in our reality .

Notes 2 Just when through modernity, we got used to being the self, it now threatens to disappear into the mayhem of our technological inter-phase and “connectivity”. Around the net or in the screen, if we are just enacting and interacting in our human responses, we are hardly different from AI, especially with neural networking and its apparent creativity (“inventing” its own programmes).
What is it to be human? Who or what is the true self? Who’s in charge? Is there free will? These age old questions about our self and our place in the world, are brought to a new impetus with AI, and its encroachment on so much of human functioning. We look for human-ness today in terms of jobs that computers and computerised machines cannot do, as we consider our employ-ability into the future.
To a large extent, our sense of existence and purpose depends on the world we experience. It reinforces and confirms our sense of being, and our identity and roles are determined according to what’s going on and who is there, as indicated in the apparent world. Made from “aspects of Reality” that the whole self has sense organs for (see Note 1 above), we are susceptible in its indication of things in the real world, to confusion, but also conviction.
We sit comfortably with the experience of things that fit familiarly within our world view (context) and understanding (causality). We are ready to scrutinise or verify what we experience, to question or determine what it is or is doing, weary of being tricked or being wrong in our assumptions. When a thing does not fit our world view, we either adopt or develop a new context that can include the thing. Or we ignore it. (Luddites actively reject new technology and the changes they bring to our reality. We may ignore, or at least post-pone an update for fear of having to re-familiarise with a new program.)
Seeing gadgets such as an automaton (mechanical dolls) do quite complex things that seem life-like, can disturb if not confuse us, until we have them within our understanding. We are now all too familiar with and are readily sucked into the screen reality (we spend much time living, working and interacting in it). However, when moving pictures were first shown on a screen, people were unsettled as to its reality. A train, for example, disappearing off the edge of the screen is said to have made people get up from their seats to look behind the screen (like some cats do). Where did it go? Where does it come from? What about the one that’s coming straight for you that presses you into your seat, or the girl strapped to the railway track who’s struggles before the approaching train makes your heart pound, your palms sweat and grip? Our reality is easily mimicked with moving pictures and sound, and augmented with large screen, music, volume and a lounge seat.
We live within story and sense as self and identity. Uncertain of what we experience, we are validated by and susceptible to occupational and diversional, meaningful and value-adding stories. We do need to make our reality certain, but certainty for us has normally been a matter of perspective, verification with different senses, and context or story, within our reality and not from beyond.
The world we experience and its stories challenges and confirms, our sense and story. Our reality is both, subject and object. In our normal identification, in our self (subject) and with what we experience (object), we avoid the “self-referencing conundrum”, within the confinement and circularity of our reality being both subject and object. Beyond our identification and conditional certainty, is the mystery of our being a part, and the profundity of our transcendent whole, where our true humanity awaits.
Lost are we from being a part of our human whole being who, being of Reality, is next to other wholes in Reality. And has their self or identity heard about being a part? Would their self or identity see value in regarding their whole? Depends on their artificiality, intelligence and story, certainly. However, our being a part, our whole self and Reality, are beyond story and what we experience.
We must approach our self beyond the choosing and choice of what to click, the determining and what is determined of friend or foe, right or wrong, good or bad, the computer-like processing and what it processes.
Let AI encroach upon our humanity. But do not depend on it, nor the world we experience, for our own sense of existence and purpose. The same set of “aspects of reality” that the whole self has sense organs for creates our experience of what is on the screen, but also of what’s in the streets or in nature. They are all experience projected by our whole in our reality. Be chased as to what is real and what is self, beyond our interactive choosing, determining and virtual act (our sense of doing what the whole does in Reality), to our actuality, and to our relation with our whole (as a part).

Notes 3 “Actuality” means the state of existence in fact (dictionary definition). “Our actuality” refers here to the existence of our reality, as projection. Our reality in its various components, occupies space as projected by our whole, in certain ways or shapes, and in certain places in relation to their whole. Our actuality is the truth, substance and form of our reality, and will further be discussed as our state, for being in relation with our whole.

Notes 4 The tendency is to identify within your reality, before you start, and as you shift to a different (new) experience or dimension. To start and keep going, rather than identified in your part and so isolated from your whole :
1a) Promote your part – introduce space, approach your actuality (to be more “presentable” to your whole and “maker”)
1b) Promote your whole – posture, trunk-al extent (so there is something of the whole to receive your part)
2) Refer to your transcendent whole – the core is the reference for, the other-end a clue to, a whole being of Reality (beyond our reckoning and effort, because they are limited by our being a part)
3) Repeat 1) Promote (part and whole) and 2) Refer – to “winch” your self closer to being a part; pulling on the winch to promote your relationship with your whole, and releasing the winch to allow and let go to your whole.
We need to apply effort, but then go beyond our efforts, by referring to our transcendent whole, because our reckoning and efforts are limited, in our being a part. One may become familiar with the levels and layers of our reality, and their unfolding, in our integration with our whole. This, knowing “what happens” to our reality in relation with our whole, can be used to promote our part (step 1a in “winching”). As we become more of a part, there is less of a leap between the conscious act of doing something (promote, step 1) and referring or presenting to the whole being (step 2). Our connecting with our whole becomes “smoother” after having initiated it with “winching”.

1The powerful theories of science have their origins here, in our phenomenal world we may try to understand, powerful because our theories and understandings work when applied in the conditions that they are meant for or were developed in. Nevertheless they remains an indication and story, of the real world and things in it.

Orientation 2

Orientation
Part theory

Following on from Orientation 1, which is re-presented here first. Orientation 3 will cover Whole body method.

__________________________________________

I have depicted and written about our part in the human condition, as projected from our whole through the CNS (Central nervous System). Mereology, which is the study of parts and wholes, has helped gel my work since coming across it in the middle of this year.

Mereology has eased my emphasis on projection. I can introduce our relation with our “transcendent” whole simply as a part, rather than as projection. And I can refer to Reality, the one and only whole, as transcendent of our part yet immanent in us as part of our whole.

I had already formulated Part theory and Whole body method quite some time ago now. Part theory, as the name infers, is about our being a part of our whole and our whole being a part of Reality, the one and only whole. Whole body method however, involves not only our whole but projection as the substance and form of our reality, our “actuality” as projection, from which and with which we can promote our part, our whole, and our relation with our whole.

I’d like now to present a frame work for Gendo Orientation. Having depicted and written about our part and our whole, I hope to present, both here and in my work, more of Whole body method i.e, our participation and practice in the process, of our integration as a part with our whole.

Orientation
Part theory
Whole body method
…. to follow.

Orientation
Orientation of our reality, in space and with our whole, who is of Reality.

Part theory
We are a part. Everything we experience is a part. Our reality is “constructed” of parts including our self, what we experience, the conscious, the witness and our deeper being. Our reality in turn, is a part of our whole being.

As a part we may be in relation with our whole. However, a whole is transcendent of its parts because a part displaces its whole. It means we cannot directly experience our whole nor Reality.

We tend to identify exclusively in our self and with what we experience that are indications of aspects of things in Reality. This identification is reinforced by our linear reductive determination of what we experience within our projected reality. We are isolated from our transcendent whole in this knowing engagement within our projected reality.

Becoming a part involves approaching our self. Not a sense or idea about our self but our “actuality”, our existence in fact occupying space as projection in our projected reality. Emptiness is “collapsed”. Emptiness is the disassociation through which we are having an experience, or the space through which those various aspects of our reality for having an experience are displaced. The disassociated aspects of our reality integrate in stages, through depths back wards, breadth side ways, and levels underneath including breath and deeper being.

I call it the process of Reality – our becoming a part of our whole, who is of Reality. In approaching our actuality, and referring to our transcendent whole (which must be indirect, because of transcendence), we are touched by Reality, the one and only whole .

Our whole or Reality is not a goal to set your sights on. You may reach places, experience, find or resolves things, change in your part. In being a part however, seek beyond more, a relation with your transcendent whole.

Whole body method
…. to follow.

Everything, everyone, every part, every whole

– from a mereological orientation of our part, and Reality

Everything is a part of its whole.

You are a part of your whole;
I am a part of my whole.

And everything is a part of Reality,
an entirety,
the one and only whole;
it includes all wholes,
all dichotomies, inside but also outside.

From within your whole
is the rest of your whole,
your inside and outside,
your everything, your everyone, your world;
your whole touched by the rest of Reality
is a long long way away,
in all directions.

 

 

A text-ed tour

From the exhibition Orientation – the cognitive part.

The depictions indicate the “projected actuality” of our reality, our existence in fact as projection in space.

Aspects of our reality occupy certain places in relation with the whole self, and in certain distributions or “shapes”, as projected by our whole. They are depicted as captures from behind, together with an indication of the whole self, in some.

1 “Cornered across (with vision)” So, with the depictions, “it” is there in you. There is nothing solid about our reality, and we occupy space as projected by our whole through the CNS.

This is our line-up with and where we face in vision the world out there.
This is the self or identity coming across to identify with vision.
The witness is back behind this cornering.

This out-line in grey of the head, neck and shoulders represents the subtle sense of our whole being. He/she is a subtle sense because he/she does not exist in our reality of projection, but gives us more a sense of where we are, centred on his or her right.

The conscious, like coconut palm fronds, reigns from above as if to shed light on our reality. Because we are mainly in the spread across including the self and vision, the conscious itself is more a scooped-out absence.

These lines, around the lower part of the cornering, indicate our front and back, before the witness behind.

2 “Knobbly join” There again is the head, neck and shoulders, indicating the subtle sense of the whole self who is in and of reality and does not exist in projection, but gives us our sense of where we are,

Vision is here.

The wot and the wit stands for the world out there (up, front and to the right, there on you and me) and the world in there (down, behind and snug towards our cosy core, there on you and me), that we may experience.

The circle between the wot and the wit, is the self having an experience. The self is understood to be inseparable from experience itself – “what is experience without self, what is self without experience?”.

Experience itself is separate from what is experienced. What we experience, out there and within, is the object to our self having an experience.

The face (left half of the self circle)) is the identity, determined more by our world and society. Conscious is there again reigning from above, but not as coconut palm fronds but more as its body.

The world out there has an angle, forwards, up and across to the right vs. our inner reality that extends back, under and nuzzles towards the core (mid-line) of the body. You can distinguish your wot and wit, quite readily in your own situation I think. You are the identity in the knobbly join between them.

3 “Bass clef (of sound)” There are more recognisable shapes here. The bass clef and the top of the treble clef.

Now again, it is our actuality, a depiction of what is actually there on us. So, the world of sound, this is there on you, and I’ll just take you through it.

The world of sound “comes under and around you on your right, goes over the top and comes in on the left above, but not below”.

So there’s this shape to the projected actuality of our world of sound. It happens to be the symbol used in music notation to indicate the bass rage of notes, the rumbling deep notes that makes us look up and around and determine what it is. It might be a dinosaur, a tank or a jet plane (threatening deep noise), and contrast with the treble notes that can settle us into our cosy core. Our sensitivities there are rumbled by deep bass notes, and we rise to hold our self up in our hard heads to determine friend or foe, within our “base clef”.

We can recognise and depict or describe the shape, but there’s the “where” of it, the “actuality of it being there.

It does not explain the symbols, but I suspect that the symbols of music originate from our actuality. The wide acceptance of them may be because of our actuality being of that shape.

4 “Arch of language” The only one I have used colour in. Japanese vermilion red is used in calligraphy. It contrasts with the dark sumi-e ink, to correct, mark or stand out. It is also the red seen in Shinto shrines; their torii gate ways are painted with it.

I think I have used red because language is such a human quality that marks our cognitive “gawk and talk” reality. I consider the rest, the conscious, mind and the sense of self in the world common to animals. Like humans, they, whole living “animal” beings, function in the real world through their self functioning in “its” projected experience of the world.

Compared to the actuality of our realm of sound (bass clef), this is a narrower, tighter realm of language, which is also sound but special or particular sound. It dips under the conscious, domes over mind and lands on the right shoulder.

Our depths extend under it. So, cognitive, emotive and somatic (of body) sense are marked in their three letter abbreviations. LInghter lines under them indicate our deeper instinctive and intuitive sense of others and the world. Our cosy core is towards the mid-line of the whole self.

Our consciousness extends down towards subconscious depths, but on the “other side”, the subconscious begins right next to us.

“Carried” on the Arch of language are aspects of our linguistic cognitive reality, namely our Infinitism, Circularity and Foundationalism.

Infinitism means it goes on and on for ever, and together with Circularity and Foundationalism, they are the nature of our conscious mind, recognised in philosophy in those terms .

In order to be certain about something we think about or sense, we can try to find a proof for what it is. The proof must come from outside what you are trying to prove, so as to help support it. But then, that proof needs a another proof from outside it, to support it … and so, it goes on for ever – Infinitism, just as the conscious goes on and on (till off?).

And it is easy to go around in circles in our mind, Circularity, which is formerly described as when the thing you want to prove is in a subsequent proof. The train of logic forms a circle. Though there are separate steps we do not get outside of the initial statement.

And Foundationalism is the assumption that is not questioned or challenged, a fundamental belief.

These qualities of the cognitive mind are called in philosophy “Munchausen’s trilemma”, the unsatisfactory nature of certainty in our mind (see Note 3).

Just as music symbols take the shape of our actuality, the three aspects of our cognition have their place in their actuality on our “Arch of language”. It dips under the conscious, on and on Infinitism, circles over the mind’s reach, Circularity, and lands on the emotive level on the right shoulder, for Foundationalism.

Split

 

Our reality is split
inside outside,
conscious experience
self and witness.

Contexts within which we determine,
this and that,
good/bad right/wrong true/false,
themselves separate
superficial and deep.

More or less before nothing
positive or negative either side of naught (zero)
but for us there’s the “other side”,
the subconscious to our conscious,
and the unconscious beyond.

What is more and beyond
goes on and on
without our whole.

Beyond our work and play,
our lives and generations,
sense of self and others,
there is our whole
who encompass our numbers and our all.

He or she, as the case or gender may be,
enacts embodied, does and is,
and encounters the rest of creation, in reality
while creating our reality as his or her part including
our sense of being and what we get up to,
and the world that we can think we rise to and are in.

Our whole is in and of reality,
touched by the rest of creation
as an indispensible part,
permanently present in reality’s present/presence (time/space, here/now).

Our sense of independence and freedom that is our embodiment,
sense of will and destiny, our endorsement
sense of life, our enticement
our sense of others and engagement,
are parts easily split without our whole.

___________________________________________

Our realities are separate from our whole in being projected through the CNS (Central Nervous System) by our creator, our whole self. We are further isolated from our whole being in being identified in our self and with what we experience.

Within projection we are displaced and disassociated between the various aspects of our reality, split between conscious experience self and witness, and further with contexts and what is determined through them, as paraphrased in the piece above. This is why our identification between these ”split” parts are exclusive of our whole and isolating.

A part is invalid without its whole.

However, we may know that we are a projected part, approach our “actuality” as projection, and be in relation with our whole. We must understand, practice, and enact this; it is our contemplation, connection and communion – with our maker, a godly being of creation who, in his or her being, conscious, and substance, is inclusive of our self and all that we may be, all that we may experience, our conscious and witness.

Hope to see you there

Our reality is created by our whole being and projected through the Central Nervous System (brain and spine). We are displaced from our whole in being projected. Further, we are normally isolated from our whole being as we identify, within our projected reality, in our self and with what we experience.

I depict and represent how we exist as a part of a whole being of reality, rather than the isolated experiences within which the self regards the world and others. I hope to draw the viewer toward a sense of their own part, which implies their whole.

There’s a whole being of reality who is missing from our reality.
Yet, we are a part of our whole, projected through
the Central Nervous System.

We can approach our being a part, and thereby insist on our whole.

Winter 3 : end

As we pass Winter’s third half moon,
we continue to rise and go forth
in our annual season’s setting,
even as the next season’s is unveiled
within definitive depths and breadth.

From last moon’s attenuation
into winter’s solid conclusion,
we await winter’s end
like a “death star” about to explode.

The human condition – what I’ve worked out of it

I’ve tried to make the introduction flow, and make the points that follow more complete. I’ve added a section on Meditation, Actuality and Whole being, implying steps towards being a part of reality from identified in what we experience. Yet to present the physical references, movement and exercises.

If I can start with the Central Nervous System (CNS). You may be familiar with the idea that the brain creates, or at least is involved in creating, what we experience. Vision, for example, is processed in the brain from information received by the eyes and “projected”, for us to experience.

But what about our self, having the experience?

Many find it difficult, including scientists and philosophers, to accept the self as being made by the brain, or by anything else for that matter. It challenges our sense of autonomy and independence, of being “in control” as the definitive entity rather than being “controlled by”, and choosing to make a difference and shape our destiny. Do we need to separate the self (subject) from experience (object) and consider their origins separately? (Easy or hard question of the consciousness, Chalmers 1986.)

We can wind this back to the start and question in the first place, whether the brain creates anything at all. Strictly speaking, the activity detected in the brain with MRI scans may only be “para-phenomena” – that they coincide with (or parallel) the “events” in our reality (that we observe) but do not necessarily cause them. Is there a basis or a creator to the self and what we experience, or are we just what is?

Let me put aside these issues, about what is created or not (i.e, fundamental and irreducible in themselves) and what the CNS does or does not do, to make this point : that there is no brain without a living whole being. We can consider then our whole being to be the basis of our reality, including the self.

It means our whole creates our reality and projects it through the CNS. Projection is the role that the CNS plays in the manifestation of our reality. The whole self or being is the definitive entity of reality. We, as projection, are a part of our whole being.

Normally, we think “I’m it” and “that’s the world out there”, that we are the “definitive entity” and the world we experience is reality. We function well enough in this familiar way. Yet, unless we keep ourselves busy, occupied (with something) or diverted (away from the rest, as in occupational and diversional therapy), there’s also a sense of incompleteness or that there must be more. Certainly there’s uncertainty, and plenty of occasions and reasons for anxiety or depression.

I do not wish to deny anything of our self and what we experience, nor draw us beyond boundaries best accepted, outside or within. But a part is simply invalid, apart from it’s whole. We are displaced from our whole in being projected, and isolated from our whole as we identify, in our self and with what we experience, within projection.

Our reality is a part. All that can be of our reality, of “conscious experience and self witnessed”, is projection. Till we learn to be a part of who encompasses and permeates our all, we remain isolated in our part, lost from our whole. All directions are in vain, as we grasp at our fleeting moments in avoidance of this, our truth.

Our whole being includes both the solid body and projection, is more than their sum, and is in and of reality. In our “actuality”, the existence of our reality as projection, we can be in relation with our whole, as his or her part. And as a part of our whole being, we are also a part of reality.

_________________________________

Following is a practice, outlined with stepping stones towards our being in relation with our whole. Our notion and sense of reality is not reality. Like a yacht that must “tack” away from the wind of reality and can only zig zag towards it, we talk about and feel what reality “must be like” in an indirect way. In our projected actuality, however, we are aligned directly with our whole as a part. Then, as a projected part, we can refer to reality itself in our whole being and be affected in our relation with our whole.

In a word, the theory is projection.

From projection comes Part theory and Whole body method :
1. Part theory – in our projected actuality we may be “in relation with” our whole. We are validated in this “being in relation with” as a part is by its whole.
Winching (see below in The 5 steps to establish – 4.) : because we are, as a part, limited.
2. Whole body method – we can refer to (core), contemplate (who must be there, who must be more than the sum of his/her parts including those parts projected and solid, who sums), commune with (Nothingness – absence in projection), and connect with (through projection) our whole.

As a part of reality, our whole being is in and of reality (we are in and of projection as a part of our whole being), and spirited (as are all other whole entities in reality) with the one essence of his/her whole being and the entirety of reality (All creation).

We can introduce our whole in prayer (love and compassion, forgiveness and support, to emulate and become, depend and surrender, feel and receive, we can refer to our whole who encompass and permeate all we experience, distance, presence and process), meditation/experiencing (who has the eyes and other sense organs and projects what we experience), posture/exercise (who has a body), work/play/living (who actually is, does and lives).

Physicality (to follow). References, body movement/exercise, relationship.

The 5 steps to establish (stepping stones) :
1. Actuality – there is our actuality, our existence in fact as projection.
2. Whole being – is in and of reality. He or she creates our reality and projects it through the Central Nervous System.
3. How we are shaped or structured in our actuality goes hand in hand with what happens – isolation from our whole to integration as a part, as we “place” our self and our reality in our shaped actuality, like positioning an engineering or architectural block to initiate some structural process (robots in “Transformers”, temple booby traps in an “Indiana Jones’” adventures where the placement of a skull etc causes the whole temple to shift), to be affected by “being in relation with” our whole.
4. What to do – our part to play as a part: 1)Promote our part towards becoming more (in space as projection; see Extension of our part, below) and by approaching our actuality, so as to be “presentable”. 2)Promote the whole being in reality “physically”, from being compromised in maintaining our part in isolation, so that there is something of our whole for us to be “received” by. In our isolation we must make effort (to promote our part and our whole), but then 3) stop (because we are a limited part), to introduce the whole being beyond our self and our limited reckoning and efforts. (To “winch” our way to becoming a part from isolated – promote our part and our whole, stop, refer to our whole, repeat. Repeating is necessary while our relation with our whole establishes because as we shift in our identity, what we experience and the realms or dimension of experience, we tend to re-identify in our new situation.)
5. What it is all about – we become more a part, and our whole becomes more complete with integrating parts. Godly being of reality, spirited at core (unconditional love, God presence), encompassing our all (our self and our sense of others, near and far, and of all times and places we may sense being in or being in touch with) and our part.

Extension of our part :
Consider the world out there, your self having an experience, the witness behind, deeper being below, and the conscious above. These displaced aspects of our reality extend in different directions and in differing distances that imply space in a very direct and immediate way.

This space, including the shapes of our aspects, is actuality, our being projection and a part. Refer to from this, the actuality of our greater part, the whole self and whole being.

References for the “physical” whole being :
– CNS : level, domed and split brain; vertical spine; even nerve roots. Goes with a “complete” (with integrating parts) whole being in alignment with gravity, horizon and the zenith.
– Nothingness : the absence of the whole being and reality from our projected reality. Though as sense it is projected, Nothingness it is the whole being who encompasses and permeates our reality of conscious experience and self.
– Core : the reference for the whole being; of whom his or her solid body and organs, as well as projection are parts. Other end is the clue.
– Notion : The whole being who must be there, in and of reality. More than the sum of the parts. Alive as a part of reality, next to other whole beings. Who must be breathing, doing, alive, being of reality.

Meditation :
– focused : breath, one point, self, whole self, god, a sense, here and now, circle, mirror, light, candle light, movement, uprightness, a direction, numbers.
– mindful observance : allow for conscious experience and self (our reality) to settle as is, into their depth, in face of a transcendent witness.
Actuality :
the matter in fact of our existence as projected in space. Includes the witness and the layers of disassociation towards our subconscious, our outside and inside worlds, the existence of things and the presence of others (what and who we experience) within them (worlds or realms), the conscious, depths, “other side” and “other end”. In the immediate instance we may recognise the world out front, our self back in, the witness behind, deeper being below and the conscious above. The various directions in which these aspects of our reality occur infer space that, together with the space they themselves occupy, is our projected actuality.
Whole being :
refer, contemplate, consider, commune, connect (Whole body method), for being in relation with our whole.